ONTARIO — In terms of final tune-ups before league play, Friday’s game between the Colony and Roosevelt football teams was far from a thing of beauty as the teams combined for 265 yards in penalties. But in the end, three Colony turnovers late in the first half helped lift visiting Roosevelt to a 27-20 victory over Colony. “I told the defense, we won this game because of our defensive play,” Roosevelt coach Aaron Crone said. “Our defense stepped up when they needed to step up. They made big-time plays when they needed to and I’m super proud of those kids for doing it.” Trailing 27-13, Colony closed the gap to 27-20 on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Liam McDaniel to Braylen Leal with 3:15 to play. Then the Titans (1-4) thought they were getting the ball back when Roosevelt quarterback Matt Patino threw incomplete on third-and-11 with 2:10 to play. But Colony was called for pass interference on the play giving the Mustangs a first down, which Titans coach Brian Zavala considered a questionable call. Then with about 30 seconds to play and Colony out of timeouts, Roosevelt inexplicably ran the ball on third-and-13 instead of kneeling and running out the clock. Roosevelt was called for holding, which was declined by Colony but stopped the clock. So instead of the game ending, the Titans got the ball at their 21 with 17.7 seconds to play when the clock stopped again as Roosevelt turned the ball over on downs. They completed two passes to get to midfield but the clock ran out before they could get off a third play. Roosevelt (2-3) held a 17-7 halftime lead despite managing just 19 yards of total offense in the first half. Colony scored on its opening drive to take a 7-0, but the game turned beginning late in the first quarter with the help of a Colony penalty. Leal got off a 50-yard punt, but Colony was called for an illegal formation. Crone elected to have Colony re-kick and freshman Nathan Ramirez returned the punt 60 yards for a game-tying touchdown. All three Colony turnovers came in the final 2:08 of the first half. Senior Idaho State-bound linebacker Ty Beadle intercepted a pass with 2:08 to play to set up a Brandon Snook field goal, then Beadle returned a fumble 20 yards for a touchdown and a 17-7 lead. “Last year I played tight end and D-end so I didn’t really get to play linebacker,” Beadle said. “It was nice to finally get in the end zone. We had great energy and we were flying around the ball.” Roosevelt had a chance to extend the lead on another interception. But instead of kicking a field goal from the 1 with 4.5 seconds left in the half, the Mustangs ran the ball and were stopped short of the end zone, ending the half. Related Articles High School Sports | IE Varsity’s football wrap-up: Stories, scores and photos from Week 5 games High School Sports | Rancho Verde football controls clock, shuts out Tahquitz High School Sports | ‘Special’ effort propels Murrieta Valley football team past San Clemente High School Sports | Cajon football team bounces back, outlasts Orange Vista down the stretch High School Sports | San Jacinto football team uses big second quarter to run away from Jurupa Hills But in the second half, Colony could get no closer than seven points. “It didn’t come down to one play, it came down to many plays,” Zavala said. “We were excellent on special teams all year and we gave up that one (punt return). We’ve been pretty clean (before Friday). Preseason is rough. I want to know who we are now, not a false reading of who we might be. I think our preseason served us well.” What turned out to be the winning touchdown came in the final minute of the third quarter when Noah Vazquez ran for a 50-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1 to make it 27-13.